Entishing Severus
by septentrion
Summary: Severus meets Treebeard.


_I make no money by writing this. My only gain is entertainment._

_Thanks to Juno Magic for the beta and for keeping my canon in line._

_This was written to answer a prompt by Gelsey.

* * *

_

Once more Severus wondered why he had agreed to bet against Rabastan. If he hadn't, he wouldn't be wandering alone in the Forbidden Forest now. The grumbling of his stomach informed him that it was around noon, not that being night or day made a big difference in these deep woods. Hours of walking had taken their toll on his teenaged body and muddied his mind to the point that he couldn't muster the incantation for the water charm.

_Perhaps if I rest a little, it'll come back to me._

And so Severus sat down against a gnarled man-like tree.

*

He dozed around an hour. Feeling better when he woke up, he decided the best course of action would be to send sparks into the sky to alert Hogwarts teachers to his location. He would have to deal with his Slytherin comrades for losing points, but that was better than ending up dead.

First, he needed to climb the tree to cast the sparks, or they'd be lost in the dense foliage. He grabbed what looked like an arm and started his slow, steady, ascension. Yet the higher he went the more disquieted he felt. Something was not right at all.

*

He stopped and looked around him. Leaves, leaves, leaves; he could not see anything else. He listened. The rustle of leaves, like a murmur. A different rustle of leaves, like a different voice. And another. And another.

Then the rustles turned into rumbles.

The tree Severus was on swayed, but no wind caressed his face. Were the legends about living trees true?

Panic started to seep into Severus' mind. By sheer willpower he slowed his breathing and forced himself to think rationally. Trees were living creatures indeed, _but they were not sentient._ There.

A bloodcurdling scream escaped his lips.

*

Something was there that was not there a minute ago. It looked like a mouth buried under a bushy beard . Trees did not have mouths, or eyes…and they didn't speak.

"Who are you?" The voice resonated with age, ancient wisdom and anger. It also had a very _tree-like_ quality.

"Severus Snape."

"What are you?"

"A wizard," Severus replied without thinking.

"A wizard? What kind of a wizard, BOORAROOM? One with axes, one with saws?"

The tree's branches shook with fury, and Severus nearly lost his footing.

"A good wizard!" he exclaimed hurriedly, sensing his mistake.

"Can you prove that?"

*

_Think, Severus._

"I use neither axes nor saws. I use a wand."

"A wand? I want to see it."

Severus took his wand out of his pocket and held it in front of the suspicious tree's eyes.

"Made of wood, I see."

Severus nodded. He hoped that was a good thing.

"You take good care of it," it stated.

"Yes."

"A friend of ours, then."

Emboldened by the tree's seeming friendliness, Severus asked with all the reverence he could muster, "May I ask who you are?"

"I go by the name of Treebeard. I am the last of the Ents."

*

Severus blinked. "The talking trees? You're not a legend?" he asked before he could stop his mouth. However the Ent looked more surprised than offended.

"We were very much real. My friends fell asleep so deeply and so long ago that they cannot wake anymore."

"But not you?"

"Every once in a while, some pest comes here and bothers me."

Was the Ent teasing him? In doubt, Severus said he was sorry. "I think I'll go away and let you get back to sleep."

"You do that, young wizard."

Without warning, the Ent yawned and closed its brown, penetrating, eyes.

*

Still shaken by the encounter, Severus climbed down the Ent with precaution. His wobbly legs barely supported him. What was he going to do? He was still as lost and hungry as before. Then he heard it. Footsteps. Human voices. He could have wept in relief. He started in the direction of the noise.

"There you are," a worried McGonagall exclaimed. "One hundred points from Slytherin! And detention with me for the next four weeks!"

On the way back to Hogwarts, Severus wondered if the headmaster would be willing to reinstate Slytherin's lost points in exchange for a good story.


End file.
